It was Sta.

There was not a moment to be lost, for the open window was beginning to draw the smoke from the passage.

Luckily, the boy, by some childish instinct, threw his arms round her neck and left her hands free.

Whispering him to hold tight, she clambered out of the window.

A narrow ledge of cornice scarcely wide enough for her feet ran along the house to a distant balcony.